Love and Death starring Elizabeth Olsen in the leading role premiered on April 27 on HBO Max, while Jessica Biel’s Hulu miniseries came out in May 2022. While both biographical drama series are based on the same true crime incident and source material – Texas Monthly articles and the book Evidence of Love by Jim Atkinson and John Bloom – the first few episodes of the latest HBO release were enough to point out the differences between the two.
Alongside Olsen, the new crime drama series also stars Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe. Kristen Ritter, Tom Pelphrey, Patrick Fugit and others, and has been written for TV and created by David E. Kelley, and direct by Lesli Linka Glatter. Both – Love and Death and Candy follow the real life story of Candy Montgomery, set in 1980, when she murdered a fellow church-going friend, Betty Gore, who was also Allan Gore’s wife – the same man with whom she initiated an extramarital affair. While she eventually comes out with the confession that she was guilty of the murder, she also claimed it a case of self-defence.
Considering both TV shows are centred around the same events – how they ultimately led up to the day of the murder, they follow the same overall plot, but their approach towards it is significantly different. Here are some differences between Love and Death and Candy.
Love and Death Vs Candy: Differences Between the Two Series
1. Basic Visual Changes
i) Candy‘s story overtly progressed following the psychological thriller genre’s traits, whereas, Love and Death has been built up as an angsty crime drama. These basic differences also translated into their opening credits sequences respectively. While the Hulu series has a more graphical outlook and pans out a modern art-styled animation, the HBO Max show’s intro plays on the emotional strands of the audience by including a theme song – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood by Nina Simone. Each of these openings set the theme for the respective shows’ tonality.
ii) Episodes – Candy‘s episodes were released on Hulu as a five-night event, whereas, Love and Death received the usual HBO Max premiere with the first three episodes coming out on the same day, while the rest were to be released on a weekly basis. It’s also a miniseries, but consists of a total of 7 episodes.
2. Physical Appearance
Biel’s Candy sports a permed look since the series’ onset, and therefore, her looks were applauded at the time since she resembled the real Candice Montgomery closely. However, Olsen’s character starts with a rather different relaxed short hairdo, which is eventually transformed to seem closer to her real look during the court proceedings.
3. Candy and Allan’s Relationship
Love and Death builds up an emotional connection between the two people, and their relationship appears to be more profound and closer than it does in Candy. In the latter series, their interactions solely chronicle their sexual rendezvous, but the HBO Max series sought to focus on their growing friendship as well. The same is also attributed to the two different portrayals of Allan’s character.
4. Candy and Betty’s Relationship
The Hulu series allows us the first look at when the two church-going women start speaking to each other. It initiates their friendship on a warm note, but Love and Death foregrounds their story in a way that it’s already a given that they’ve been friends for some time.
Also read: Our Reviews of Candy
5. The Gore Family and Their Foster Children
Melanie Lynskey, who portrayed Betty’s character in the Hulu series suggested her husband that they adopt a child. And so, we saw them take in a young boy named David, but no such instance is ever even hinted at in the HBO Max series. Even the names of Betty’s children are different in both shows.
6. Don Crowder
When we first meet Don Crowder in Candy (Raul Esparza), as compared to Tom Pelphrey’s portrayal of the same character in the HBO Max series, we register a completely different understanding of his personality and capabilities. In the former case, the character almost emerges as an unserious comic relief. However, through Pelphrey’s rendition, we meet a more grounded and serious man who was deeply immersed in his duties as an attorney despite never having taken up a criminal case before.
His discussions with Candy also appeared more aware and cognisant of the situation at hand. While he seemed to have grasped the severity of the case and his role in it as Candy’s representative, his counterpart in the Hulu series assumed a rather informal ground around Candy.
7. The Polygraph Scene
Love and Death Episode 5 actually captures Candy taking the polygraph test following her interrogation by the police. The same is merely spoken of in the Hulu series without any visuals being conveyed to us.
8. Candy and Pat’s Relationship
Despite her choice of stepping out her marital vows to indulge in an affair, Love and Death gives us a fair look at Candy and Pat trying to renew their marriage, making it seem as if they did love each other regardless of all that happened, and Pat basically devoted himself to his wife after the revelation. However, the Hulu series somehow works in reverse. It depicts their rather ‘happy marriage’ on a lighter note initially, but all that composure is eventually thrown out the window when another one of Candy’s affairs is revealed during the court proceedings. Obviously, it takes Pat (Timothy Simons) aback and completely turns his loving treatment of Candy upside down.
Moreover, Hulu’s Pat is also shown having a go at a wooden log with his axe. Attempting to strike it 41 times, he checks for himself if the same is even possible. The same doesn’t occur Pat in the HBO Max series, rather he occupies a passive seat at the other end of Candy’s case, and only turns up to support her story.
9. The Therapy Scene
Again, in Episode 5 of Love and Death, the therapy scene between Olsen’s character and Dr Fred Fason (Brian d’Arcy James) is paid great attention to. It assists in emotionally building up Candy’s case, but on the flip side, Biel’s series doesn’t even introduce the doctor per se, and only speaks of her therapy session as an afterthought, by bringing it up for the first time during the court proceedings only.
10. Storytelling Approach
Since Candy progresses as a psychological thriller, it specifically fleshes out Biel’s character as a more unhinged individual. On the other hand, Olsen’s character development is mapped out through a sentimental arc. Her Candy portrayal is equally chilling (looking at Episode 5 scenes specifically). However, there’s no denying that the HBO Max series is more emotionally driven towards Candy’s story. Despite having an ensemble cast, the show often witnesses Olsen taking centre stage, while the rest of the cast takes a back seat.
Hulu’s Candy takes a rather neutral approach. The court scenes introduce Betty’s phantom figure to strike a balance and constantly remind us that Candy’s testimony offers only one side of the whole story. Love and Death leaves such hints as well, however, Candy doesn’t overtly become all about Candice Montgomery per se.
The overall storytelling tactics adopted by Candy also look at a more convoluted narrative. By taking up a non-linear perspective and not following all the different chapters of the story chronologically, it again points at the unreliability of the narrative. The HBO Max story chooses to jump forward and back sometimes, but the major chunk of its storyline proceeds on a linear track, while providing more depth to the characters along the way, especially Candy.
The dramatic and slow-burn elements come into play in Love and Death even when Betty’s body is discovered. The severity of the crime can be fathomed into by looking at their neighbours’ disturbed looks and expressions.
11. The Community’s Depiction
Love and Death is built around the concept of a church-going community (in fact, Episode 1 begins with the image of the cast singing hymns at the choir), which is why adultery becomes even more problematic in this scenario. However, barely some instances of the same are talked of in Biel’s series, that too only in the initial episodes when her friend, Pastor Jackie Ponder is leaving. Infidelity, being cross with one’s family and adultery don’t arise as poignant issues in Candy, but the HBO Max series makes it a point to drill it into our heads that their Texas community was built on the foundations of family. Its members can forget murder, “adultery? Not so much.”
Love and Death‘s Don Crowder even asks for the new Pastor’s help in supporting the case, so that Candy can appear more vulnerable to the rest of the community.
11. Do Either of the Shows Push for a Particular Side of the Story?
Although both of them remind us time and again that it’s not possible to side with a particular narrative, especially because only one of the two immediate experiencing parties are left behind to tell it, Love and Death takes enough time to humanise Candy’s intentions. The same isn’t attempted in the Hulu series. From the theme song asking us not to misunderstand certain characters, and the rest of the episodes up till the fifth one emotionally driving us into Candy’s corner, the story isn’t equally balanced on both the sides, but the same is still maintained in the Hulu series.
I, personally liked the progression of both the shows, especially since they’re not even close to being treated as mirror images of each other. Except the common threads of the story they’re pursuing, everything else is fleshed out as an entirely different entity of its own on each crime series. Therefore, this article wasn’t penned down to establish any superiors or inferiors in a non-existent race, the only motive behind this story was to map out the differences I spotted during my binge-watch sessions.
The HBO Max series Love and Death is also streaming on Amazon Prime Video, while Hulu’s Candy is also available on Disney+ Hotstar.
Have you spotted any other major differences to support the Candy Vs Love and Death argument?
Also read: Our Reviews of Love and Death